Robert Rosenkranz

As a boy, Robert Rosenkranz read the biographies of America’s business titans, seeing them as heroes, especially as they translated their business success into philanthropy. That gave him “the sense that you should do [philanthropy] in your lifetime.”

Robert Rosenkranz

Frustrated with the state of public discourse in the U.S., in which think tanks are “basically preaching to the choir,” Robert Rosenkranz brought Britain’s Intelligence Squared debates to National Public Radio in front of a live, voting audience.

Robert Rosenkranz

Lifted from “utter obscurity” by the efforts of Robert Rosenkranz, Mu Xin’s art, which the artist completed as a prisoner during China’s Cultural Revolution, is now widely appreciated, illustrating how “great artists are ahead of the rest of us.”

Robert Rosenkranz

“[Philanthropy] doesn't have to be politically correct; it's okay if people get offended because that's the nature of private risk-taking decision making,” says Robert Rosenkranz.

Robert Rosenkranz Promotes Intellectual and Cultural Life

Growing up in a financially insecure household gave Robert Rosenkranz “a feeling of needing to rely on myself from an early age,” he explains. “And I think that sense of self-reliance really propelled my success in life,” says the chairman and CEO of Delphi Financial Group. But having read the biographies of great industrial business leaders at an early age, Rosenkranz’s definition of success always extended beyond financial reward. “It just seemed like this was part of American success – you make money and you try to be thoughtful about philanthropy as well.”

In addition to supporting intellectual life in the U.S., Rosenkranz has invested in supporting cultural life as well. Together with his wife Alexandra Munroe, the senior curator of Asian Art at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, Rosenkranz preserves the profound writings and art of Mu Xin, once a prisoner during China’s Cultural Revolution.

And while philanthropy is a part of Rosenkranz’s definition of “American success,” he also sees it as an important contributor to American vitality. “We have a very vital cultural and intellectual life in this country and I think that’s in part because it is privately funded. [Philanthropy] doesn’t have to be politically correct. It’s okay if people get offended, because that’s the nature of private risk-taking decision-making. And I think it’s a part of American vitality.”

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(Philanthropy Roundtable) Rosenkranz has indeed added to the world’s prosperity. He is the chairman and CEO of Delphi Financial Group, a public insurance company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and the founder of a group of investment and private equity partnerships. From his midtown Manhattan office, against the backdrop of the expansive views of the city where he grew up, he answers questions about his startling trajectory.Read More

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